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I was just reading a few lists of Xmas gifts that people took home this year and I realized that I never posted my haul. And really, waiting until this week or this weekend to post it would be pushing the holiday season well past it's prime. So, I thought I'd dip once more into the Yuletide Season and list my gifts here before I forget about them.
The thing you'll notice first and foremost is that I took in A LOT of gifts this year. I was involved in two or three non-family related gift exchanges and that meant extra goodies. Don't worry, I gave back at least as well as I received. Or at least I tried to.
From the Stinger Gift Exchange:
A Kickass Flying Saucer Ipod Dock. (Nice gift, Coach Bob!) I waited until the end of the Yankee Swap gift exchange to steal that one. And by the stroke of luck, I took it home. Now I can play RENT in the shower, when I get ready in the morning. And I do, Dear Reader, I do. La Vie Boheme, indeed!
From The Producers of The BBR:
A Sweet Gift Card to Chicago Comics.
Which I traded in for new graphic novels of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing series. There are few pleasures in life that compare to reading something by Mr. Moore for the first time. This series was smart, smart, smart. And dark as a blackguards heart. Put it on my Recommended Reading list.
From the Office Gift Exchange:
A DVD of The Princess Bride.
Which will be exchanged at Best Buy for Pirates of the Carribean 2. One pirate movie for the other. A fair swap. Besides, I already have the other movie.
From the extended family (Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, etc):
A maroon long sleeved shirt that I might've been able to wear in middle school. Fifty lbs ago, anyways.
A grey long sleeve thermal shirt, that I actually can wear.
A lovely scarf that I will offer up to my roommate. It's nice. I just don't need another scarf right now.
A solid, milk chocolate Santa Claus that I passed off to my chubby ten year old second cousin. His eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree. This kid likes his chocolate.
A collection of gospel CDs that my deranged older aunt bought at a flea market. I thanked her for them and later, when I was the last one out of the room, promptly threw them away. Gospel CDs? From the Flea Market? Circa 1982? Um, no way man. No way.
A $25 Best Buy Gift Card, which I accidentally left back at home. (Gotta remember to get that shipped back soon.)
A $20 Pizza Hut Gift Card.
A Coffee Mug with a charming cartoon drawing of the Chicago Skyline on it. My grandmother found it at a yard sale. She said that it only cost her 50 cents. I told her that it was perfect.
From My Mom and Dad:
A groovy pair of Penguin Patterned Sleeping Jammys. I wore them all vacation long and every night since I've been back. They're divine! And they have all these abstract grey and black patterns on them, that, when you look closely are individual penguins.
Three Pairs of Warm, Attractive Socks.
Two Pairs of Cargo Pants (In Khaki and Olive Green) LOVE those pants. Wore them all weekend long, actually. The same pair. I never wanted to take them off.
A Red long sleeve thermal shirt.
A nice, black and navy blue print dress shirt. Which partners up smartly with a purple sweater from the Gap. Perfect for wearing to work.
2 more pairs of grey, long sleeved pullover shirt. (Raising my score of those, up to three.)
The Sweet Digital Camera that I've already gone on and on about.
A Memory Stick and Carrying Case for the Camera.
RENT: The Movie Soundtrack from Itunes. (I burned a copy of it onto CD to burn onto my home computer, some day.)
My Stepdads Year Old 20gig Ipod.
Plus a Universal Dock for it.
Star Trek: The Fan Collective DVD set. The Time Travel Episodes.
A Sweet "Squirt" T-Shirt from Moonlight Graham's shop, here in Chicago. It has a picture of the Squirt cartoon character on it and says, Lord Help Me I Am Not Making This Up, "Go Squirt For Victory." Hilarious.
$100 from my pop, discretely handed to me as he drove me home on Christmas morning.
The Stuff That I bought Myself with Holiday Cash:
Three new Starman Trade Paperbacks
Three used JSA Trade Paperbacks.
Scott McCloud's "Making Comics" Trade Paperback.
Ex Machina, Book 4 Trade Paperback.
A Used Copy of "The DaVinci Code" in paperback form. (C'mon it was a buck and I've never read it.)
RENT: The 2 Disk DVD set.
Anthony Rapp's book, "Without You" which details how he got into the original RENT cast and how he lost his mother to cancer at the same time.
Star Trek: The Fan Collective DVD Set. The Borg Episodes.
Carnivale: Season 1 on DVD.
But that wasn't all that I took home from the holidays. (And Really, that's a ridiculous haul. Very Kind of everyone involved.) Because I got my camera a day or two early, I got to take home some truly sweet pictures from the holidays. Let me share them with you, below.
This is my grandmother Akers. In her youth, she was an amateur wrestler. But that's a blog entry for another day. She's up in her eighties now, but still as lucid as a sixty year old. Take that to mean what you like.
Here's my dad in his Santa hat. He played Santa this year for the kids on his side of the family. He's resting here in this pic, after all the gifts had been handed out. He's really the sweetest, sweetest man. I really do love and admire my old dad.
I really have to do this in two pictures.
This is my 6 year old nephew Gavin in his inflatable Superman costume that my stepmom got for him. It comes pretty big on the kids and cinches up at the waist, neck and sleeves. When you turn on the belt pack, the tiny fan inflates the "muscles" of the suit. Giving you THIS effect.
I know. It's hilarious. I could've watched him run around in that thing, all night long.
Here's my mom and my grandfather (the WWII vet) at breakfast on Christmas morning. He and I don't get along too much. A few thanksgivings ago, it was revealed that I was an atheist and the bloom fell off the flower. I love him. And he loves me. But we both secretly think that the other one is a bit of a dummy.
We manage to be sweet to each other though and sometimes he looks happy to see me.
This is my grandmother, holding her great, grandbaby, Zoey. Zoey or as they all call her, "The Big Z" is less than six months old. And she was born prematurely. She spent the first month of her life in the hospital. Now, though, she's healthy and happy. The women of the family take turns holding her. And the Big Z, well, she tries to hold her head up straight and take everything in. The whole time I was home, I never saw her cry, once. I think this pic of her with my grandmother is very sweet.
Maggie got something for Christmas too. A Bell Collar to keep her from scratching her ears. She also got cash to get her hematoma removed from her right ear. So, her Merry Christmas begins post-op, in the middle of January, when that particular nuisance ends. She hates her bell collar, by the way. But she quietly tolerated it, never fighting it or biting it or trying to claw it off. She mainly mopes around in it and bumps into furniture. Which is sort of funny.
Yeah, so, that was my holiday haul and recap. Thanks for reading it this far, if indeed, you did.
Cheers,
Mr.B
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